In June, 13 members of the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, along with Executive Director Jeannette Stawski, traveled to Peru with the generous support of G Adventures as part of the AORE and G Adventures Global University. In addition to exploring Peru’s culture, landscape, and history, the delegation examined the how and why of international outdoor travel for college and university outdoor programs, a recent trend in the field. At the heart of the experience were discussions of the need to design and manage international outdoor adventures intentionally, to enhance the value of participants’ experiences. The trip proved to be full of adventure, learning, and humor—as expected when traveling with 14 outdoor professionals.
The group united at a hotel in Miraflores, a wealthy, tourist-oriented section of Lima, and it felt like the first day of the AORE Conference. Old friends were reunited, new ones quickly made, and discussions of all aspects of outdoor programming flourished. The group traveled by taxi to the historic center of Lima to visit the Monestario de San Francisco and its catacombs. After lunch at a Chifa, a Peruvian Chinese restaurant, everyone met Eli, our CEO from G Adventures. G Adventures calls all of their guides CEOs—chief experience officers—a fitting term for the work they do. Eli led the group on a walk to the first of two G Adventure Offices in Peru where we met the team behind the trips, had a briefing on our trip, and engaged in the first of several formal discussions about the question central to the trip, “Why global outdoor adventure?” The next day started early with a flight to Cusco, our jumping-off point to the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
For the first few days in Cusco, the defining feature for many tourists is the altitude. The city sits at 10,000 feet above sea level. Despite breathing heavily, we enjoyed the first day in Cusco exploring the city’s Inca and Spanish architecture and visiting the impressive Inca sites of Puca Pucara, Tambomachay, and Sacsaywaman. The size of the ruins and the precision of their construction left no doubt as to why so many tourists travel to the Sacred Valley. Our local guide from G Adventures facilitated an appreciation for these sites that we could not have achieved on our own. We had a formal discussion of the risks and rewards of international outdoor travel as we sought to achieve the Global University’s goal of fostering a community of experts that supports the industry in developing innovative and informed practices of global adventure learning.
From Cusco, we headed to the small town of Ollantaytambo en route to the beginning of the Lares Trek, the backcountry part of the trip. On the way, we visited a women’s weaving cooperative and a community-run restaurant in Parwa, both of which are supported by Planeterra, G Adventures’ philanthropic arm. International travel undoubtedly affects the local communities that tourists visit. Planeterra demonstrated the need to think critically about the positive and negative impacts of international tourism and sought to empower communities to manage sustainable enterprises through initial investment, training, and as-needed consultation. Beyond focusing on participants’ outcomes, programs traveling internationally should be conscientious of their impact on the places they travel.
The Lares Trek is a three-day hiking trip along an Inca trail over a high pass connecting two valleys. Peru may be known for the Inca Trail, which leads to Machu Picchu, but there are thousands of miles of Inca trails that connected the former Inca empire from the Amazon jungle to the heart of the empire in Cusco. The Lares Trek provides an alternative to the incredibly busy Inca trail and was developed by G Adventures, with the help of one of the locals. Although one day shorter than the Inca Trail, the Lares Trek is more difficult, with higher elevation and more climbing to a 15,000+ foot pass.
As outdoor professionals, many of us were curious about what it would be like to change roles and be the learner/participant instead of the facilitator/guide. We also had to get used to leaving the backpacks to the mules and letting cooks and porters prepare our meals and camps. By being open to new experiences and letting go of our preconceptions of what outdoor travel should look like, the group was able to learn about the culture of rural Peru and gain a new perspective on the incredible diversity of ways to experience wild places. As individuals and as an industry, we need to adapt to changing paradigms and foster more inclusive practices of outdoor recreation.
During the Lares Trek, we discussed how international outdoor adventure affects our programs and ways to be intentional about program design to maximize the unique learning opportunities international experiences provide. The trek brought us through small villages, over a high pass with views of snow-covered mountains, and down river valleys. Along the way, Ray, our CEO for the trek, ensured we learned about the area’s history and culture as well as the social and political issues that affect the diverse groups of people in Peru. The trek was about much more than just the landscape. We also discussed some of the similarities and differences between guiding in Peru and guiding in the United States.
The group then traveled by bus and train to Aguas Calientes, also known as Machu Picchu Town, for the culminating experience of the trip. Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was “discovered” by Hiram Bingham III, a professor at Yale, in 1911. Some of the site’s terraces were used by local farmers to grow crops for generations, and it soon became a major tourist draw. Our group convened at 4:30 a.m. to take the bus up the switch-backing road so we would be some of the first people to arrive. Machu Picchu sees more than 2,000 visitors a day and, by the afternoon, we were standing shoulder to shoulder in some places. Despite the crowds, the site is so inspiring that every few steps feel like a new discovery. The Inca who built Machu Picchu began by laying a plan carved in stone for the complex topography of the site, to accommodate irrigation, terraced farming, living sectors, and political and religious areas. Stones were carved in complex shapes to fit together precisely without the need for mortar. Building Machu Picchu took planning, patience, hard work, and the vision to create something that would last into the future.
On the last night of the trip, we concluded with one more formal discussion about international outdoor adventure. From our experiences, we learned that international outdoor travel offers incredible learning opportunities for college and university outdoor programs, but, as with any reward, risks and challenges are associated with it. Much like the Inca looked to the future and took the time to plan and build Machu Picchu, the outdoor recreation industry and individual programs have the opportunity to be intentional in designing and implementing international outdoor adventure trips. The Global University trip to Peru is just the beginning of the discussion.
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By Bryan Karban, Climbing and Trips Coordinator at the University of Minnesota